King County Metro's Renton sewage-treatment plant is one of the region's biggest users
of electricity, and it's paying much more for power now than a year ago.

Last January, the county was paying Puget Sound Energy about $7,000 a day to power the
plant's pumps, aerators and heaters.

On Friday, the plant's daily electric bill was about $90,000, said Don Theiler, who
heads the county's waste-water-treatment division.

Earlier this week, the division was looking at a sewer-rate increase of up to $2 a
month to pay the higher power costs.

That was before the state Utilities and Transportation Commission temporarily capped
the rates Puget Sound Energy charges the county and 12 other large industrial customers.

Theiler said the cap would save the county money and keep any sewer-rate increase down;
he doesn't yet know how much.

But he and members of the Regional Water Quality Committee say a rate increase is
probably unavoidable.

"Unless energy rates come down, I don't see any way around it," Metropolitan
King County Councilman Rob McKenna said.

"There will probably be an increase," said Renton Mayor Jesse Tanner.
"How much, I don't know."

Committee Chairwoman Louise Miller, a county councilwoman, said the panel is
researching the county's legal authority to impose a temporary surcharge, rather than
folding the higher costs into a permanent rate increase.

Any increase must be approved by the County Council, which probably will be presented
with a proposal within two months, Theiler said.

The county signed a contract with Puget Sound Energy about four years ago that tied the
price of electricity for the Renton plant to the daily wholesale market price.

The deal saved money in the beginning, Theiler said, but when the spot price of
electricity spiked late last year, the county's bill went through the roof.

Other large industrial customers that had signed similar contracts, including Boeing,
Intel and Qwest, found themselves in similar straits.

The County Council appropriated $8 million from reserves just to keep the Renton plant
running through December.

Theiler said his division had taken steps to reduce power consumption at Renton.

It is diverting much sewage from the Eastside that usually is treated at Renton to the
county's other big plant, at Seattle's West Point, where electricity costs are much lower.

West Point's power is provided by Seattle City Light for a fixed price.

The county also has switched more activity at Renton to the evening, when electricity
costs less. And it has installed diesel generators to help power the plant.

But Tanner, Renton's mayor, said neighbors on the hill above the plant are complaining
about the noise.